I get it! Granny Squares decoded - and a Pentagon made.

So this year (2016) I've decided to really learn how to crochet.

I've made a start with Granny Squares and decided that I was doing ok with those after making a few, each one a little neater than the one before.

Next I decided to try something new. I'd found a tutorial  for making Granny Triangles so thought I'd give that a try.

After a first failed attempt when I'd been confused by the instructions talking about treble crochet. 

I thought treble crochet was a new stitch until I realised (and read the pattern properly) that the pattern was a UK pattern and that UK treble crochet is the same as US double crochet, which is what I'd just learned!

Once I'd got that sorted, the pattern was easy to follow and my new Granny Triangle worked out just fine!

Once I'd made this triangle, I realised that it really wasn't anything new, but simple the same principle and instructions as for a Granny Square, but just 3 corners instead of 4! 

It was a real 'light bulb' moment.

The next day I got up and just had to put my theory to the test, and decided to try making one of these with not 3, not 4, but 5 corners...yes a Granny Pentagon!

I didn't use a pattern, just working from my new knowledge of how to make a Granny Square, but added and extra point and....voila.

Now to those of you who are expert crocheters, this may not seem very exciting, but to me it was! I really have learned something new here - I haven't just learned how to follow the pattern to make a basic Granny square - I understand the pattern and could see how to adapt it to make something new!

Now that I feel like I understand Granny Squares - I thought it was time to get a little creative. So I got a thin crochet hook and some embroidery thread and made myself a pair of earrings!

I feel like I've made a good start to my learn to crochet quest. Time to keep moving forwards onto something other than the Grannies now I think! Any suggestions?

Upcycled Flowers on Denim Peg Bag Tutorial

I've needed a new peg bag for a while now. Mine is getting a little bit worn...

It has lasted 3 years of constant use and being left out in the harsh Queensland sun means it has faded somewhat. Here's what it looked like when I first made it (that tutorial is here):

Anyway, I decided I wanted a change this time and I'd seen some pictures on Pinterest that inspired me to try something different.

So after a bit of puzzling, drawing and altering patterns and a couple of practice attempts..

I was finally happy with my new peg bag!

Once I'd figured it out and perfected the template, it was quite simple to make. Here's how you can make one of your own!

You will need

The templates - download the free PDFs here. You will need to print them then match up the main pieces where they are marked A and B, then fold your fabric to cut where marked as the templates are rather large!

Inner and outer fabrics - approximately a fat quarter of each (46 x 56 cm / 18 x 22") - cut two of each fabric from each template.

Small scrap of fabric, cord or I used a jeans seam strip for the hanger.

Metal ring or clip for hanging - I used a clip salvaged from an old keychain.

For the outer denim of my peg bag, I just cut strips of denim scraps from other jeans projects. They were varied in sizes and I just arranged then stitched them together so the resulting piece was large enough to cut out my two templates.

Embellishments

At this point you need to add any extra embellishments you want to the outer fabric of your peg bag.  I have a stash of small 

fabric yoyos that I wanted to add.

I stitched them on with buttons in the centre and used green embroidery thread and a simple chain stitch to stitch stems and leaves.

To assemble your peg bag

First take your hanging loop and hanging clip or ring and place them like this on the tip of your large outer fabric piece, right side facing up. 

Then place your two large pieces right sides together and pin, then stitch them around all edges except the curved base.

Turn right sides out, making sure to poke out the corners.

Now top stitch around all the edges you just stitched around - only the curved bottom edge should be open.

Now fold this whole piece in half with the outer fabric on the inside, and pin along the two straight edges.

Stitch along those edges. With the top edge, if your hanging loop is thick as mine is, you can just stitch up to that point and leave the rest open.

Now to attach the base. Take your outer fabric circle and the bottom edge of the outer fabric main piece you've just been working with.

With right sides together, pin the circle all the way around the base edge of your bag.

 Then stitch all the way around.

Now take your inner fabric circle and the inner fabric part of the main bag. 

Again with right sides together, pin the circle to the bottom edge of the bag inner. This time leave a gap of about 10 cm (4") so you can turn the bag right sides out when you're done.

Once you've stitched your inner base circle on, turn right sides out through the gap you just left.

Finishing off

Finally you need to reach inside your bag and pull out the inner base and find the open gap in your stitching.

Pin then stitch this gap closed. You can hand-stitch for a neater finish, but I just used the machine as this seam will be hidden at the bottom of the peg bag.

Push the lining back inside the bag, and you've now finished your new peg bag! Fill with pegs and hang out some washing.

I was very happy to transfer my pegs out of my old peg bag, which is definitely at the end of it's life!

When I was figuring this peg bag tutorial out, I did try making one with a layer of buckram in it (very stiff interfacing).

Although this helped the bag to hold its shape really well, I didn't like how bulky all the seams were so decided to leave this out in the final version. I like the softer feel of my bag, but you could just as easily add a layer of interfacing if you prefer a more structured look or bag.

Overall I'm really pleased with my new

 Flowers on Denim Peg Bag

It's nice to have a change don't you think?

For the free downloadable PDF version of this tutorial with the templates included, click here.

If you liked this tutorial, then do take a look at my other free sewing tutorials. There are over 100 to choose from to make all kinds of different things and for all levels of sewing ability.

More plastic than fish - what can I do?

Have you heard that by 2050 there will be more plastic than fish in the oceans? (source)

The amount of plastic waste in the world is just shocking and single use plastic items are a major cause of this.  

Take a look at this short trailer for a new documentary coming soon, which highlights just how bad the situation is.

There are steps that we can all take to make a difference and stop the increase of plastic waste. 

Single use plastic bags are something we can all manage without.  By carrying a reusable bag in your handbag or car when you go out, you can avoid your need for single use bags.

You could go a step further and have a set of reusable bags for your weekly grocery shopping.

I have had a set of these for years now and never get plastic bags. They are made from old bed sheets and are remarkably strong!

As my own contribution to help reducing plastic waste from single use plastic bags, I have created an e-book of sewing patterns so you can make your own set of bags and a stylish personalised handbag to carry them in, hidden in a secret compartment at the bottom of the bag so you are never without them!

The book also includes tutorials for a simple handibag made from a pillowcase and net bags for your fruit and vegetables.

I sincerely hope that this book will help others make their own set of reusable shopping bags and so help reduce the need for single use plastic bags.  

For more details and to purchase this ebook for the bargain price of just $5.00, click here.

Thank you for your support!

Jill

The World Is My Oyster!

Today is the last day of January and a time for me to reflect back and look forwards after a long summer holiday with my girls.

They went back to school last week, and I spent those 3 days getting things organised, sorted and tidied up ready to begin my working year.

In the Middle

A couple of weeks ago, I had a funny thought and checked a statistic out - average life expectancy here in Australia.  

I'm now 42 years old , and that average life expectancy for women is 84. Which means that I'm about half-way right now!

So is this my mid-life crisis? Maybe! 

What I really feel, is excited at this statistic.  When I think of quite how much I've learned, done and experienced in my first 42 years, the possibilities for the next 42 are incredible.  The first few years of my life were spent learning to do things like walk, talk, feed myself etc.  In this second half I'm already pretty proficient at that kind of thing, so I'm starting at a much more advanced point.  Think of all the things I can learn, do, see, places I can go, things I can try... 

I think as we get older, we maybe tend to make fewer, or perhaps less lofty long term goals and plans.  When we are kids, we have the whole, 'what will I be when I grow up' to think about, the world is our oyster! Learning, choosing, studying and working towards what we want to do with our lives.  But there's no reason why we can't do that at a more advanced age too!

Some inspiration 

Henry Ford, created the Model T car when he was 45.

Charles Darwin published 'On the Origin of Species' when he was 50.

Ray Kroc bought McDonalds when he was 52 and turned it into the world's biggest food franchise.

Colonel Sanders was 62 when he franchised KFC.

Martha Stewart hit it really big with the publication of her first book aged 41.

Samuel Jackson was 46 before he got his first major film role.

Peter Roget invented the Thesaurus at age 72.

What about me?

So having had this thought, I'm now standing at the beginning of a world of infinite possibilities!  I'm starting to look at plans and goals I've made and set, and think that I need to think much much bigger, to start laying a foundation now for the next 42 years.

Whereas before I have thought that my blog has been going for nearly 6 years now, and I sometimes feel frustrated that I haven't managed to grow it bigger in that time. If I haven't made it big blogging yet, is it just a hopeless task? Should I just give up now?

NO! Absolutely not!

 I'm now looking at it as 6 years of learning and foundation. 

My motto is very much, 

'Use what you've got' 

as I mention often, so now my task is to use what I've built up over the past 6 years to take it to the next level.  I've spent the past couple of years churning out LOTS of new sewing tutorials and a couple of e-books, but during that time I haven't really grown my blog. I share my tutorials in the same circles and on the same sites all the time. Maybe it's time to start stretching further afield. The internet is a massive place and I've only explored a tiny corner of it.

So I've decided that maybe it's time to pull back on the whole producing endless new tutorials and focus more on promoting and getting what I've already made, out there for more people to see.

I still have new tutorials planned for this year - but more like one a month rather than the one a week I was doing at several points over the past couple of years!

A New Look

This past week I've made a start on reworking my blog a little.  I've thought lots and often about the whole change to Wordpress, and getting my own domain name. And I'd like to say a big thank you to all those who took the time to answer my questions about your experiences doing just that. 

However, once again with my 'use what you've got' mentality, I've decided to stick with my Blogger blog with its mismatched domain name of  'jembellish.blogspot'!  

'What's in a name' anyway? as Shakespeare famously said 

(Romeo and Juliet).

A start

A few days ago I decided it was time to add something to my blog that I've wanted for a while -

  a drop down menu. 

I know this is just a simple option on Wordpress, but not so easy on Blogger. However, as one of my favourite quotes says:

"If you really want to do something you'll find a way.

 If you don't you'll find an excuse" 

- Jim Rohn

Adding a drop down menu to Blogger wasn't simple and straightforward, but neither was it too difficult.  I found this tutorial from a couple of years ago which helped me create the menu and insert it into my Blogger template.  I had to fiddle around with the sizes and colours to get it just right for my blog. And then I had it working on my 'test blog' (one I created for trying out new things) but once I transferred it to this blog it didn't work!  So more Google searches of my problem later I'd learnt even more about moving things about on Blogger.

In the end I got it to work and it was so satisfying to test it all out and see it working just as I'd imagined it!

Revamping the whole blog is going to be done gradually as I want to do it myself and that's going to take some time and learning on my part. No rush though - I want to get it right and I have plenty of time to do that!

Learning something new

The satisfaction I felt in creating the drop down menu on my blog was how I'd felt over the summer holidays when working with my youngest daughter on building cars powered by balloons, propellers and rubber bands. 

We learned together how to build these cars and with lots of trial and error, made a few cars that worked. What a rewarding project that was.  Spending the summer with my girls, learning and doing things with them, reminded me of how much fun learning and trying new things is and I want more of it!

What else?

This blog is just one aspect of my new thoughts about plans and goals. There's my family, my other education blog, my fitness, things to learn and places to go.  I've made a small beginning with my blog - and have also decided I want to learn to crochet properly and have made a start on that! There are so many possibilities it's hard to know where to start - so I'm starting small and adding plans and goals as I go. This isn't like making New Year's Resolutions and plans. I'm not writing everything down and trying to do it all at once.

I do hope you'll continue to come back and read my continuing and growing adventures on this blog. 

And do tell me - do you have goals and plans as an adult, as big as those you had as a kid?  What are they?  I'd love to hear your stories too!

Learning to crochet in 2016

This year I've decided that I'm going to learn to crochet. 

I tried learning a couple of years ago and this was my granny square attempt then:

Quite round for a Granny square don't you think?

I also tried a few amigurumi with my basic skills:

But never progressed beyond that and kind of lost interest.

But I don't like to be defeated or to give up on anything, so I've decided this year I'll give it more attention and learn to crochet well!

So yesterday I followed this video tutorial for a basic single colour granny square. I paused the video lots as I worked through it and gradually got more confident in the terminology of what I was doing and saw the pattern emerging.

I was proud of my finished granny square!

Later last night, I tried a second square from memory and with my first to refer back to beside me.

For some reason it looks much better on the left side than the right side, but at least it's square and looks reasonably even!

My next step is to make another granny square but this time follow a written tutorial. I plan to try this one from Happy in Red and hopefully that will reinforce the terminology and help me learn how to 'read' a crochet pattern!

Can you crochet? Do you remember learning? How did you learn? Did someone teach you or did you use a book, videos or maybe just figure it out for yourself? I'd love to know!